High School Summer 2020 Program in Florence, Italy

PROGRAM OVERVIEW
FUA-Florence University of the Arts is offering a unique opportunity for high school students to participate in its cultural and academic offering. Students may selectfrom an exciting range of courses and participate in weeklong cultural explorations in locations such as Rome, Sicily, and Florence as well as supervised afternoon activities such as sports and discovering the city of Florence. Courses are designed to prepare students for college entrance and the transfer of credits. Subjects include areas such as Italian language, food culture, digital photography, drawing, fashion design, art history, and the world of professional Italian soccer. Please keep reading for detailed descriptions of offered courses.

EXAMPLES OF COURSES OFFERED

Food, Culture and Society
Fashion Design
Introduction to Digital Photography
Florence Sketchbook
Italian Language
Introduction to Art History - From the Romanesque to Mannerism.
The Italian Soccer Experience

ADVANTAGES OF STUDYING AT FUA SUMMER SESSIONS
Live-in Resident Assistant for counseling and assistance
Field Trips
Afternoon Extracurricular Activities such as sports and discovering Florence
Culinary Exploration of Florence

SUMMER 2020 DATES

PROGRAM COST:  $ 5,650
It includes:
• Education
• Accommodation
• 2 meals per day
• Afternoon Activities
• Field Trips
• Lab Contribution
• Museum Pass
• Orientation session
• Information/Orientation Folder
• Cell phones for students (outgoing calls will be charged individually)
• Free Internet Access in School facilities in Florence
• Counseling service
Does not include: airfare

ABOUT ACADEMIC COURSEWORK
Courses are designed to prepare students for college entrance and the transfer of credits.
Subjects include areas such as Italian language, food culture, digital photography, drawing,
fashion design, art history, and the world of professional Italian soccer. Please keep reading
for detailed descriptions of offered courses. This program is aimed at students wishing to
design their own curriculum prior their enrollment in a College/University and transfer their
credits. FUA offers full credits for US Universities for all coursework completed at an extra
cost.

Classes are held – Monday to Thursday
9:00AM – 11:300AM
3:00PM – 5:30PM
Students are required to select 2 courses from the offered curriculum:
Total Academic Workload 90 hours (45 hours each course)
Add/Drop – Students are allowed to add/drop one of the selected classes by the 2nd day of
classes
Courses will be activated with a minimum of 8 students. Students are requested to indicate an
alternative
Please note: A defined schedule of classes will be determined by January 15th 2017

ACCOMMODATION
Student accommodation (half board) is located in the city center, a few steps from the
Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, and Palazzi facilities. Students enrolled in our program are offered a
safe and relaxing accommodation, fully equipped and monitored 24/7 by their live-in RAs
(counselor). In some cases, depending on enrollment numbers, housing in hotels may be an
option.

DINNERS
Students will alternate in groups to join some of the best restaurants in Florence exploring the
culinary culture of Tuscany.

COUNSELING SERVICE
FUA will provide for Summer High School students with counseling service through live-in
Resident Assistant. On rotation, Counselors will be on call 24/7 for heal and safety
emergencies, but also for counseling and general assistance.
 

FIELD TRIPS:
Venice ( 2 days )
Visiting Venice- the most romantic city in the world. You will be spending 2 days walking around the hundreds of islands and enjoy the beauty of the nature.

Rome (2 days)

This legendary capital of the Roman Empire and current political capital of Italy is one of the
most visited cities in the world. Students will visit the Coliseum, Spanish Steps, the Forum,
the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

COURSES OFFERED
SCHOOL OF FOOD AND WINE STUDIES: Food, Culture and Society
This course is targeted towards students with an interest in Italian food traditions, society, and
culture. The main focus consists of what is generally defined as “made in Italy” culture and
style in post-war Italy. Also covered are the relationships between Italian traditions, folklore
and contemporary Italian society drawing from examples including festivals, food, tourism and
economy, and the influence of foreign civilizations. Students will be asked to regard the
subject of food outside of the context of ingredients and the procedures used to create a dish;
we will instead examine a large scale context in which food is either featured as a main
component or an integral element in cultural situations. Thus the student is asked first and
fore- most to observe the presented material across an anthropologic lens that roves over the
entire Italian peninsula.

SCHOOL OF FASHION, ACCESSORY STUDIES AND TECHNOLOGY: Fashion Design
This course is an introduction to creative design development and fashion design skills.
Topics include: de- sign processes of trend research, storyboard compiling, color story, fabric
selection, draping design concepts, design innovation and the 2-D to 3-D development of
creative ideas. There will be assigned projects in all of these areas. Students will also be
introduced to the basics of fashion illustration. Students prepare for their design collections by
exploring the roles of research, design development, and editing in the fashion design
process. Emphasis is placed on the application of design development, and editing in the
fashion design process. Emphasis is placed on the knowledge of key fashion categories,
markets, and price points.

SCHOOL OF DIGITAL IMAGING AND VISUAL ART: Introduction to Digital Photography
This course will introduce students to the digital photography world with particular focus on
updated tech- niques and how they can be incorporated into classic fine art photography. The
course will explore the use of state-of-the-art computer software and techniques. The
instructor will guide the student in learning to master photo computer software and how to
control the scanning of a picture, transparency and neg- ative to make a good quality digital
print. Elements of photo composition and graphic design, photo his- tory, and relationships
with other art mediums will also be addressed during the course. FUA’s Digital Laboratory is
equipped with the most updated computers, software and peripherals. Prerequisites: There
are no mandatory prerequisites. Basic photography experience will be helpful. A digital
camera of at least 3.0 mega pixels with an optical zoom lens 3X or more is required.

SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS: Florence Sketchbook
This course is designed to take full advantage of the student’s unique experiences living and
studying in the city of Florence. With on-site inspiration channeled into artistic creativity,
students will draw on location at sites of historical significant and visual interest ranging from
architectural masterpieces, landscape vistas and medieval streets to formal gardens, street
markets and Renaissance fountains. . Slide lectures will document the rich history of how
Florence and its environs have attracted and inspired visiting artists for centuries. Students
will develop individual sketchbooks with the aim of building up source material for fu- ture
projects.

SCHOOL OF ITALIAN STUDIES AND LINGUISTICS: Italian Language Beginning
This course develops basic conversation, reading and writing skills. Equal focus will be given
to grammatical structures, vocabulary and conversation skills. Students will develop a
vocabulary that will enable them to engage in simple but useful everyday conversations, thus
enhancing and supporting their Italian experience. Emphasis will be given to oral expression
of practical vocabulary and newly acquired grammar structures. This level is for absolute
beginner students who have never studied Italian before.

SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS: Introduction to Art History - From the Romanesque to
Mannerism.
This introductory course is aimed at students who have little or no background in the history
of Western Art. Before examining the beginnings of Renaissance art which took hold in
Florence in the early years of the fifteenth century, students will be given a broad overview of
Greek and Roman art and architecture the emulation of which is fundamental to
understanding the cultural revolution of the Renaissance. Through on-site visits to medieval
churches and palaces in Florence, students will early on become be- come familiar with the
Romanesque and Gothic styles in which the first Renaissance painters, sculptors and
architects had their roots and from which they were dramatically to diverge. Since site-visits
are a sig- nificant part of this course, the focus will be on Florentine artists who will include:
Masaccio, Donatello, Brunelleschi, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and
Michelangelo. By way of comparison consideration will also be given to other art centers in
Italy such as Venice, Siena and Ferrara. As well as analyzing the style and subject matter of
works of art, students will learn about the techniques of painting and sculpture and
comparisons will be made with techniques in other countries in the same period, for example
the use of oil paints in Flemish painting. Prerequisites: none

SCHOOL OF SPORTS AND HEALTH SCIENCES: The Italian Soccer Experience
Saul Steinberg famously observed that it is impossible to understand America without a
profound knowledge of baseball. The same could be said for Italy and soccer; for many
‘calcio’ and Italian society are inextricably intertwined and “the beautiful game” is never just a
game. This course traces the history of Italian soccer and the personalities - players, trainers
and managers - who have shaped the game. The technical aspects of Italian soccer - rules,
tactics, strategies, psychology, and training - will be explored during the training hours. A field
trip to the Coverciano museum of soccer and the world-renowned coaching school forms an
integral part of the course.

AFTERNOON ACTIVITES
Mondays - Wednesdays - 6:00pm to 8:00pm

Sports: It’s already a proven fact that exercise is good for you on multiple levels. First and
most obvious is that physically challenging oneself leads to a healthier and fitter body. The
endorphins produced during a work-out is emotionally motivating. Isn’t it true that after the
burn and sweat you always feel happier and more energized? Participating in various sporting
activities can also help emotionally/spiritually. Taking the time to jog, swim, kick or jump
allows you to clear your mind. Focusing on the physical routine elimi- nates outside
distractions and cultivates an inner peace. We want to provide our students with a safe,
friendly, monitored environment. Volleyball, basketball or football (soccer) is offered as group
activities. For the solo athlete who wants to strap on his headsets and run like the wind, no
worries. There’s a traffic free zone for you.

Discover Florence: These tours are designed to broaden students’ Italian experience
through a wide range of cultural activities focusing on a variety of subjects that have shaped
historic and contemporary Italian culture. We are going to visit the hills around the city, but the
walks will include experiences on such topics as food, arts, ancient and ar- tisanal crafts and
historical parks of Florence. These activities, beyond providing fun and relaxing moments, will
deepen students’ understanding of the culture and physical surroundings they encounter
during their period of study in Italy. The first walk will start with a visit to an ice-cream lab in
the center of Florence, with the aim to educate students about the differences between good,
healthy ice-cream and the bad ones. Just to give and example, another walk will take
students to a goldsmith lab, where they will have the pos- sibility to admire the production of a
unique handmade ring and to learn the traditional techniques of pro- cessing gold. The walks
will extend to incredible journeys through Florence, unveiling the modernity and other secret
stories of the city.